Jonny Evans is at the centre of a bidding war, reports the Daily Mirror, with the paper claiming that Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City are all tailing the 29-year-old Baggies defender.
Of course, it was only a couple of years ago that Evans was a fixture at Old Trafford, but the then manager Louis van Gaal decided to offload him to West Bromwich Albion for £6million. The Mirror says his successor in the Red Devils hot seat, Jose Mourinho, “believes that it was a huge mistake” and consequently he will “make a shock bid” to bring Evans back to Old Trafford in the new year.
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City apparently had a £20m bid for Evans rejected by Albion in the summer and although Pep Guardiola’s interest has waned somewhat since, he could make another bid just to get one over his old adversary.
Meanwhile, the same trio of clubs are said by Metro to be sniffing around Nabil Fekir, the 24-year-old frontman who has been a mainstay of the Lyon side in recent seasons.
Wenger in particular is keeping tabs on Fekir and Metro says that the Gunners are “keen on pairing the forward up with former Lyon team-mate – and close friend – Alexandre Lacazette”.
When the rumours were put to the Lyon striker by French outlet Telefoot, he said there was interest from “Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal [but] I don’t have a specific club [in mind]”.
But Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas struck a defiant note when asked by SFR Sport if the club could sell the French international next month.
“Will Fekir be at the club after the winter transfer window? Of course,” said Aulas. “And nothing says that he will leave at the end of the season either. He is under contract [until 2020] and likes playing for Lyon very much.”